Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 16 megapixel SuperFine JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5.5Mb.

The Samsung MV800 delivers good front to back of frame sharpness for the most part. On occasion though we did witness some loss of definition towards the corners of the frame when shooting at maximum wide angle and slight softness at extreme telephoto setting, plus disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, burnt out highlights when shooting in brighter, sunnier conditions. Inevitably pixel fringing also makes an appearance between areas of high contrast. Colours are on the warm side however, with red, greens and blues particularly flatteringly rendered, and under ideal exterior conditions we were able to get some pleasing results as our sample JPEGs hopefully show.

Similarly, whilst by far from the worst low light performance we've seen, and a broader than expected light sensitivity range selectable from ISO 80 up to maximum ISO 3200, images do start to noticeably deteriorate and lose detail after ISO 400, meaning that at ISO 800 noise and softness are present in equal measure. That said, when selecting the 'night' option from among its pre-optimised selection of scene modes, we were pretty pleased with the end results - which is, as our test shots show, as good, if not better than the results from long-standing photographic brands in its class.

Noise

There are 7 ISO settings available on the Samsung MV800. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.

ISO 80 (100% Crop)

ISO 100 (100% Crop)

ISO 200 (100% Crop)

ISO 400 (100% Crop)

ISO 800 (100% Crop)

ISO 1600 (100% Crop)

ISO 3200 (100% Crop)

Focal Range

The Samsung MV800's 5x zoom lens offers a versatile focal range, as illustrated by these examples:

26mm

130mm

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are a little soft and ideally benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level.

Original (100% Crop)

Sharpened (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Samsung MV800 has 3 different image quality settings available, with SuperFine being the highest quality option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

16M SuperFine (6.25Mb) (100% Crop)

16M Fine (3.44Mb) (100% Crop)

16M Normal (2.31Mb) (100% Crop)

Chromatic Aberrations

The Samsung MV800 handled chromatic aberrations fairly well during the review, with some purple fringing present around the edges of objects in high-contrast situations, as shown in the examples below.

Example 1 (100% Crop)

Example 2 (100% Crop)

Macro

The Samsung MV800 offers a Macro setting that allows you to focus on a subject that is 5cms away from the camera when the lens is set to wide-angle. The first image shows how close you can get to the subject (in this case a compact flash card). The second image is a 100% crop.

Macro Shot

100% Crop

Flash

The flash settings on the Samsung MV800 are Auto, Auto & Red-eye reduction, Fill-in flash, Slow sync, Flash Off, and Red-eye fix. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (26mm)

Auto - Wide Angle (26mm)

Flash Off - Telephoto (130mm)

Auto - Telephoto (130mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Auto setting or the Red eye fix option caused any red-eye.

Auto

Auto (100% Crop)

Red eye fix

Red eye fix (100% Crop)

Night Shot

The Samsung MV800's maximum shutter speed is 16 seconds in the Night scene mode, which is excellent news if you're seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 6 seconds at ISO 80.

Night Shot

Night Shot (100% Crop)

Live Panorama

The MV800's Live Panorama mode shoots either a 2D or 3D panorama image by sweeping the camera either horizontally or vertically.